Luxury sock and knitwear manufacturer Corgi Hosiery has doubled its turnover and the size of its workforce following a sustained period of growth over the past three years.

The Carmarthenshire-based company, which produces socks under Royal Warrant to HRH The Prince of Wales, has increased production by more than 100% due to rising demand for its high quality, hand-finished knitted goods.

The business turned over around £2m last year and is looking to exceed that figure this year.

This has allowed Corgi to employ an additional 30 people from the Amman Valley area, taking the company’s workforce to a total of 62.

They have also given opportunities to a large group of apprentices and trainees, supported by the Welsh Government’s Jobs Growth Wales scheme and a skills development programme run jointly by Creative Skillset Cymru and local further education college Coleg Sir Gâr.

Later this year, the family-run firm is set to officially unveil a 3,000 sq ft extension to its Ammanford factory which will house additional production spaces to help meet the growing demand for its products, as well as a large storage area to accommodate increased sales through its online store.

Until 2008 Corgi largely produced high-end knitted goods to order for designers such as Ralph Lauren and Burberry. However, a shift towards producing similarly high quality items under their own label has seen the Corgi brand gain increasing recognition in its own right.

While their designer client base still features world-renowned fashion labels Burberry, Fred Perry and Ben Sherman, Corgi’s own-branded products are now sold globally through high-end retailers including Selfridges, J.Crew and Mr Porter.

Managing Director Chris Jones, who runs the company jointly with his sister Lisa Wood, says that the rise in popularity of products made here in the UK has had a part to play: “Consumers are willing to spend that little bit more on high-quality, UK-made products and that is what we specialise in here at Corgi.

“We use the finest quality yarns available and every single item that leaves our factory is hand-finished by one of our highly skilled workers. You just can’t argue with quality”.

Corgi recently launched its limited edition Regimental Collection, a range of nine socks produced in close association with HRH The Prince of Wales.

It includes nine designs, each once depicting the unique stripe and colours of one of the regiments or battalions of which the Prince is Colonel or Colonel-in-Chief.

The Collection is endorsed by the UK Ministry of Defence and a proportion of all sales is donated to Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for British Veterans suffering from mental ill-health, of which The Prince of Wales is Patron.

Corgi presented Combat Stress with a cheque for £3,500 raised through pre-sales of the Collection last year, and an additional cheque will be presented to the charity in the autumn.

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